From the archives: Shock, sorrow over JFK’s death

Thursday

Nov 21, 2013 at 4:50 PMNov 21, 2013 at 4:50 PM

Editor’s note: Black Friday conjures up a much different image today than it did in 1963. Today, it’s about shopping, but in 1963 “Black Friday” was the headline over a front-page editorial in the Rockford Morning Star the day after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. On the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, we republish that editorial.

Shocked and heartsick, citizens of the Unites States stand united today in sorrow over the death of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

The assassination of our president has shaken the nation to its very foundation, for this is a country founded on law and without law there is anarchy. The sniper’s bullets which snuffed out the life of the American president snuffed out one of the candles that spell Freedom.

Politics and political disagreements are one thing. Assassinations are quite another. There is no place in the American system for people who shoot at presidents or anyone else. There is no place for those who foment or participate in violence, for those who believe that force and sheer power are American methods for accomplishment of any objectives.

John F. Kennedy is the fourth president of the United States to die at the hands of an assassin. In each case, the killer was a radical whose emotions triumphed over reason. In each case our national moral and spiritual well-being was damaged. Without law there is chaos that extends into every home in America.

The Rockford Morning Star mourns the death of President Kennedy just as do all decent Americans. His senseless slaughter was a despicable act. We pray that President Johnson, in the days ahead, can restore the sense of national honor that was so grievously besmirched at Dallas on Friday, Nov. 22, 1963.